Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd Review

Like many Ravenloft tabletop adventures, five adventurers are plucked from the realms by the mists to find themselves in Barovia. As usual, Strahd sends one of his minions to invite the newcomers to his castle to enjoy his hospitality, a.k.a. for Strahd to mess with their minds and tempt them.

The characters are:

• Rotrog: An arrogant Orc wizard apprentice
• Kah: A shy Kenku cleric from Waterdeep
• Fielle: A cheerful human artificer from Baldur’s Gate
• Alishai: A moody, hot-tempered Tiefling paladin to Selune
• Chivarion: A good-natured Drow barbarian with a hairless tressym named “Murder” as his pet.

Over the course of the novel, you discover that each one was taken when they were faced with a terrible choice or were poised to take an awful action. That sets the stage for the crux of the novel—which character(s) will succumb to either Strahd’s temptations and/or the malevolent energy of Barovia, embracing their darkest impulses.

Should You Buy It?​

I found Heir to Strahd interesting because while it presented elements of Barovia that Ravenloft players and DMs will be very familiar with, not everything was what I had expected, even though I’ve GM’d Ravenloft adventures. The spirit of Tatyana most notably was presented in a way I did not expect based on the prior information I had read.

I don’t want to explain too much about Tatyana, and how she factors into the plot because it could ruin the mystery of who falls prey to the darkness to become the titular character. I will say that I suspected the doomed character at first, then talked myself out of it, assuming it was a feint to distract from another option. A later character reveal reinforced my original suspicion, but I still thought there might be a twist to go in the another direction. There wasn’t but instead of being unsatisfying, the ending makes me eager for a sequel.

Regardless of how one feels about the mystery and certain aspects of the ending, this Ravenloft novel can be very useful for anyone thinking of DMing an adventure set in Barovia. Dawson, the author of a few Star Wars novels and several fantasy novels, not only sets the tone very well for Barovia but also shows how Strahd could be played by a DM. The audiobook in particular showcased how even a simple conversation with Strahd can be equal parts charming and sinister.

For those who like or prefer audiobooks, the narration by Ellie Gossage was very good. It’s also available in hardcover and ebook editions.

Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd: B+.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yet they're directly referencing it in Heir of Stradh, they could have gone and done Heir of Nosferatu and done whatever story they wanted to or based the story in Lamordia and gone full steampunk

Lamordia isn't the brand name anyone cares about. They are trying to create a brand they can build TV shows, movies and videogames around.

They are not going into the deep catalog until Ravenloft and Strahd are known by the general public.

 

[Tonguez]

Lamordia isn't the brand name anyone cares about. They are trying to create a brand they can build TV shows, movies and videogames around.

They are not going into the deep catalog until Ravenloft and Strahd are known by the general public.

Thats fair, though a tad cynical. I dont think the general public would much care if it was Barovia or Lamordia as the Ravenloft setting and imho Lamordias steampunk vibe is probably more appealing to modern tastes (but then what do I know what these young whippersnappers actually like- I thought they were still reading Goosebumps).

 

[Micah Sweet]

I really don’t like the party composition and really think it reflects a lack of understanding in the Ravenloft setting. Most domains in Ravenloft aside from Sithicus were very human centric. This party would be viewed as a band of monsters that would be barred entry everywhere. It’s so slapstick with no forethought for party composition in any real way. That might work for a typical D&D game where you are playing with friends but it doesn’t make any
sense in a realistic way.

It's just not the same Ravenloft. None of the TSR settings that have been revised since Tasha's are the same setting as they were, even in significant, broad strokes kinds of ways. D&D is just different now. They are chasing a different group of consumers. The old stuff is still available, or you can look on the Guild or homebrew.

It is what it is. Some people see it as all to the good, some all to the bad, most probably some of each.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Yeah Ravenloft already has a whole lot of alternative places for people to play in without having to keep bringing out Stradh and Barovia. Its like they only have one story that needs to keep being told

You are expecting corporation to refrain from using it's msot popular ips. It's like asking DC to stop making comcis where Batman fights the Joker - as long as they can squeeze a penny more out of that dead horse, they won't stop printing them. And beleive me, that well has run dry long, loong time ago.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

It's just not the same Ravenloft. None of the TSR settings that have been revised since Tasha's are the same setting as they were, even in significant, broad strokes kinds of ways. D&D is just different now. They are chasing a different group of consumers. The old stuff is still available, or you can look on the Guild or homebrew.

At least the setting still gets content. Meanwhile I think everyone hjas given up on Mystara or Dark Sun ever getting a new book. And I like to quote what one Planescape fan said when describing how different 2e, 3e and 5e Planescape content is - you could very well run all 3 Planescapes in one continuity and happennign at the same time because "it's a big city". If a setting is strong, it can carry different interpretations.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's a trap.

And the hero. And 99% of all the other characters in the movie.

If there is a character who isn't white or straight, they are probably a sidekick who dies tragically.

I believe they did say modern writing, although I'll give you that the hero is often a straight white person too.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Hence why it is literally stated he will never find an heir because he cannot find anyone worthy. I thought I made it very clear.


And everything else was still meaningless because each place was at mercy of Darklord whims and Darklords could not be removed either because if killed they'd just come back.

Not all of them (until VRGtR).

 

[Micah Sweet]

Please do not reduce people from different cultures and half of human population to "other" no different from made up Elves.

Quirks are not enough to define whole species.

We will then not agree on this.

Pretty much every evil group in this game takes slaves and every group with basic common sense retreats when in danger.

Why bother with the "run of the mill" then? Nobody has time for this, I'd rather introduce something individualy interesting that can play bigger role in the story.

Because it forces designers to give playable species unique abilities that diffirentiate them instead. Look at Goliaths, orcs and Dwarves in 2024:

1. Goliaths can lift more than other species, count as size larger when beneficial and have abilities related to their giant bloodline, making them more customizable, connecting their legacy to their abilities and showign them as people of great physical ability
2. Dwarves get more hit points and have proficiency with heavy armor, showing they are a warrior culture that is highly militaristic.
3. Orcs can dash as bonus action and get hit points from it and can survive lethal damage. It shows them as survivors, skirmishers and scrappers, more likely to pull "I did no hear no bell" on the enemy.

Instead of 2014 where some of these abilities were replaced with +2 Strength, which inherently is the same: they're all stronger than humans.

Small indicator they can recognize from their own character sheet added to base statblock accomplishes as much as having separate statblocks for holders of the same profession for different species.

Except that's not what 2e Ravenloft was at all. It was dead-set on providing only adventures that would ensure continued sale of books. Therefore it was impossible for PCs to actually affect anything because it all had to stay in position that lined up with the metaplot. Otherwise if TSR were to put a module where Strahd and Soth go to war, them DMs whose players killed one of them already would not bother buying it. As such only the corproate approved changes mattered and straying from the metaplot basically made life harder for the DM. Setting that establishes feeling of hoplessness by making everything awful and erasing player agency and ability to make it better is not horror or even gothic horror - it's a railroad.

I always made my own adventures. To me, that's what D&D, in any setting, is for.

 

[Micah Sweet]

At least the setting still gets content. Meanwhile I think everyone hjas given up on Mystara or Dark Sun ever getting a new book. And I like to quote what one Planescape fan said when describing how different 2e, 3e and 5e Planescape content is - you could very well run all 3 Planescapes in one continuity and happennign at the same time because "it's a big city". If a setting is strong, it can carry different interpretations.

You absolutely could, yes. That doesn't mean it's the same place as it was (and Planescape is the one that can most easily work the way you say in any case).

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Except that's not what 2e Ravenloft was at all. It was dead-set on providing only adventures that would ensure continued sale of books. Therefore it was impossible for PCs to actually affect anything because it all had to stay in position that lined up with the metaplot. Otherwise if TSR were to put a module where Strahd and Soth go to war, them DMs whose players killed one of them already would not bother buying it. As such only the corproate approved changes mattered and straying from the metaplot basically made life harder for the DM. Setting that establishes feeling of hoplessness by making everything awful and erasing player agency and ability to make it better is not horror or even gothic horror - it's a railroad.

I think you're confusing Ravenloft with other settings. Ravenloft was never tied to "sales of books" since the Ravenloft fiction line was virtually a non-entity, and half of the time didn't seem to even get referenced by the RPG writers. And almost every Ravenloft adventure affected the setting, the first run was the Grand Conjuction which changed the layout of the Core and eliminated several domains and darklords. The Grim Harvest series of adventures radically changed Darkon and (temporarily) removed Azalin, and then the Evil Eye adventure introduced Malocchio Aderre and radically changed Invidia.